A Dream Finally Realized

Almost exactly 7 years ago, I quit a very stressful and all-consuming job as the residential coordinator of a few group homes serving individuals with developmental disabilities.  My job was so stressful that I quit without finding another job.  I had built up enough leave (because I wasn’t ever able to take any time off!) that I had 6 weeks built up.  I was confident that I could find something in that time.  This was the first time I remember looking up the requirements to become an in-home daycare.

Obviously I found a different job and did not follow through with the in-home daycare idea at that time.  But, I came back to it several times at various points in my life.  Generally, I would revisit it as I became dissatisfied with my job or following the birth of one of our children. 

After Delilah was born, we had to reevaluate our childcare situation.  In order to afford to pay for childcare, I would have had to switch to work full-time, which made absolutely no sense to me.  Russell switched to an overnight shift, that way one of us was home with the kids at all times.  However, after about a year of working nights and getting up earlier than he’d like so that I could go to work began to wear on him and a new arrangement was necessary.  We knew that we wanted to have a third baby; therefore we didn’t want to make any drastic changes prior to that.  But, the idea kept lingering in my mind and I just couldn’t let it go.  Could I actually go through with my plan to become an in-home daycare?

Then an opportunity arose for me to watch a few kids in the morning before I had to go to work.  I thought this was a good plan because I could get me feet wet in regards to the whole daycare thing and I could make a little extra money!  I had such a fun time doing activities with the kids, and my kids liked having friends come over every day.  I really felt like I was on the right path.

Once I became pregnant with Ephraim it was time to start planning the transition.  We decided that it made sense to just quit my job when I would have left for maternity leave and start the daycare process.  It took a few months after he was born to get back on my feet.  This made me nervous and I did, at one point, worry that we would never get everything together.  But, we did.  And once the worker called to schedule an inspection, I was ready to go!  Actually, I think she was impressed with how prepared I was.  And all of our hard work paid off because we were licensed later that day!  Little Sprouts Clubhouse is officially open!

It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it?